5.4 Gravitational Fields

Question 1

What causes gravitational fields?

Answer 1

Gravitational fields are created by objects with mass

Question 2

What do all objects with mass create?

Answer 2

All objects with mass create a gravitational field around them

Question 3

How far does the gravitational field of an object with mass extend to?

Answer 3

The field created by the object with mass extends all the way to infinity - however it gets weaker as the distance from the centre of mass of the object increases, until it becomes negligible at long distances.

Question 4

What happens when any object with mass is placed inside a gravitational field?

Answer 4

Any object with mass placed inside a gravitational field will experience an attractive force towards the center of mass of the object that is creating the field

For objects on Earth, this gravitational attraction is known as weight

Question 5

What is Gravitational Field Strength?

How can this be written as?

Answer 5

The Gravitational Field Strength at a point is defined as the Gravitational Force exerted per unit mass on a small object placed at that point within the field

This can be written as g=F/M

Question 6

What is the formula for gravitational field strength?

Answer 6